STUART, Fla., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A Florida fisherman says his biggest catch of the weekend was an unusual one -- an 11-foot Burmese python probably set loose because it had gotten too big.
Jerry McBride, 51, of Jensen Beach, Fla., said he caught the 40-pound snake slithering in the grass while angling at the Indian River Lagoon at Stuart, Fla.
"It's the biggest thing I caught Saturday," said McBride, an assistant editor at Florida Sportsman and Shallow Water Angler magazines.
McBride told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that he raised snakes as a child in Nebraska and took the Burmese python, named Cornelius, home.
"My son, who's 10, thinks it's the best thing around," McBride said.
But the snake that can grow to 26 feet long and is considered a menace to indigenous Florida wildlife will be with the McBrides only temporarily.
Cornelius is headed for care by the Treasure Coast Herpetological Society, the newspaper reported.
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